There is a book famine in our midst.  We have the power to end it.

Books in the home are the single biggest predictor of a child's academic success. Yet more than half of America’s low-income kids own not a single book, setting them up to fail in school and to perpetuate the cycle of poverty. 

Book Harvest collects new and gently used children’s books and places them in the hands and homes of children who need them. 

Many of us have books at home that our kids have outgrown.

These books can change lives.

A nonprofit organization based in central North Carolina, Book Harvest places shelves of books free for the taking in places where kids who need books go: schools, afterschool programs, social service agencies, health clinic waiting rooms, early Head Start programs, and community centers. 

The emphasis is on enabling the children to select the books themselves, so that they are building home libraries they are excited about and they begin for the first time to view themselves as readers. 

In our first 15 months, we distributed more than 50,000 books to low-income children in the greater Triangle..  Our front lines book giving continues daily.  Working together, we can help all our kids succeed in school and in life -- simply by giving them books! 

To see highlights of our first year (you may see yourself in this!), please click here.

Book Harvest's free book shelf at Catholic Charities in Durham.